Broken

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I took ages getting to this book as it has taken a fair amount of slating on many book clubs, for a while fans have commented on Cole's book just not being a shadow of her former works. I still enjoyed this one, it starts pretty much from the first chapter, each chapter is relatively short in length making perfect for dipping in and out of. It has elements of her previous books although I agree that with fierce competition from writers such as Chambers & Mitchell there does seem to be a spark missing. You have loyalty, violence, family, relationships, sex, swearing, murder, drugs, prostitution and warning, even child abuse within this one. Not for the easily offended and if you haven't read Cole before I would recommending starting with her earlier work. The characterisation was as good as ever with the feisty, mouthy ex good time girl Reeva mother of the O'Hara family who likes a drink but has a heart of gold and would do anything for her children. I am going to admit this: I am in two minds over Betrayal. I enjoyed the story and kept listening to the audiobook, but at the same time, I can't help but think that I had read this story before... When the bodies of missing schoolgirls start turning up, former DCI Kate Burrows is dragged out of retirement.

Cole regularly holds creative writing classes in UK prisons. [15] She is a patron of the single-parent charity Gingerbread, and also a patron of Women's Aid. [1] I loved Cole's earlier books, particularly Burrows and the whole taboo of a copper hooking up with a criminal. Now Burrows is out of the police business and Pat is mostly retired things are going well when Pat has a chap claiming to be his son. Pat is shrewd and suspicious of course but the idea of a family brings it's own happiness and problems. Martina Cole’s books are typically written from the perspective of a female criminal protagonist. In Goodnight Lady,she tells the tale of a madame with a string of brothels and in Get Even,the wife of a murdered mobster. It is only in herD.I. Burrows seriesthat she has written from the perspective of “Old Bill”. Love Her or Loathe Her? As with Cole’s previous books, the chapters are fairly short and the style and flow of writing is easy to follow but it’s really just the same old stories and characters.

Not sure what anyone else has been reading, but there was no suspense, no drama, and anyone should be able to work out who the perpetrator is by about half way through the book. One of the initial novels written by Martina Cole was called ‘The Runaway’. It was published in the year 1997 by the Headline publishing house. The plot of the novel revolves around the lives of the main characters Eamonn Docherty and Cathy Connor. In the opening sequence of the novel, the main characters Eamonn Docherty and Cathy Connor are thrown on the streets of London’s sleazy East End and they are left to be on their own. Having grown up as the child of a prostitute, Cathy’s life becomes miserable, which leads to a disturbing ordeal as she does not have any other choice or anywhere else to go. On attempting to run away from her miserable life, she is rescued by Desrae who teaches her how to survive in the society of the criminal underworld. Meanwhile, Eamonn leaves for America along with his father and after some time he becomes one of the deadliest villains of New York. It is believed that when the paths of both of them will cross, they will be a perfect match for each other and it is only a matter of time before this happens. Cathy is beautiful, tough and clever and Eamonn is strong and powerful. Hence, if the two meet they are not going to run away again and will hopefully lead a happy life. Up to this point I rather liked Aiden. But as the years pass and he becomes a man, gradually he also becomes a monster. His need to control everyone he knows, most of all his family, becomes obsessive. A very wealthy criminal, Eric Palmer, whose fortune has been carved out from prostitution and drug dealing, takes Aiden under his wing and teaches him everything he knows. Three of Cole's novels have been adapted for the stage by the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London: Two Women in 2010; The Graft in 2011, and Cole's first novel, Dangerous Lady in 2012. [11] Other interests [ edit ] Cole was born in Essex, England, to Irish Catholic parents, and was the youngest of five children. Her mother was a psychiatric nurse from Glasnevin, County Dublin and her father was a merchant seaman from Cork City. Her cousin is the Cork politician Denis Cregan. She was expelled from her convent school aged 15 after allegedly being caught reading a Harold Robbins novel. [1] [2]

In March 2011 The Runaway, was shown on Sky1 and Sky1 HD. It is based on Cole's 1997 novel of the same name. [8] I had an idea of what I was letting myself in for reading BETRAYAL. Martina Cole has this magic of being able to create characters and families, all with their own different traits, but blend together really well.Betrayal is purely and simply the everyday story of criminal folk, from 1981 until 2016. They are a large East End family, headed by Reeva, a fiery Irishwoman, who has five sons and one daughter, all by different fathers, and all of mixed blood. D.I. Kate Burrows is a woman with problems. Mothers are murdering their children, and her boyfriend — a local villain — has been shot by the Russian mafia. If that isn’t enough, her boss is inept and, at worst, a crook. The author really understands her characters and spends a lot of time in their heads. This allows us to understand their motivations, simple as they may be. Pemberton, Max (27 October 2013). "Martina Cole's arthritis is the real crime". The Telegraph . Retrieved 5 November 2015. Dowell, Ben (17 April 2008). "Sky to air Cole novel adaptations". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 November 2015.

Reeva O'Hara has to fight for everything.....she had her first child at 14 and by the time she hits her early twenties she has already produce a further 4 children. It's been years since I last read a Martian Cole novel and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this dark gritty readable gangster thrillers. a b c Ross, Deborah (3 November 2011). "Martina Cole: 'I know I don't write literature' ". The Independent . Retrieved 5 November 2015. The characters of the six children are very well drawn, and they are all very different. The dominant one is Aiden, the eldest, a highly intelligent teenager who adores his mother. Within the local community he is recognised as someone special, and his headmaster is very anxious that he should be put forward for a scholarship to a good senior school. But Aiden himself and the rest of his family are not interested. Aiden's only purpose in life is to make money, lots of it, to support the family. Martina Cole: Woke up this morning, launched my own record label". The Independent. 22 October 2011 . Retrieved 5 November 2015.Loyalty is everything and even more so when it's family, anything else will be the ultimate betrayal